Devices such as digital still cameras (“DSCs”) rely on removable, non-volatile media cards to store image and other data (e.g., metadata concerning the image data). Other digital media devices such as audio/video recorders/players (e.g., mobile phones, personal digital assistants, MP3 players, digital video cameras, etc.) also use such media cards to store a variety of digital media (e.g., images, movies, audio, etc.). Several media card formats exist, including Secure Digital (SD), Multi Media Card (MMC), Compact Flash (CF) I and II, Memory Stick (MS), and xD Picture Card (xD). As used herein, the term media card is intended to refer to all such digital media storage devices, regardless of physical format.
Generally, extracting images or other data from these media cards requires a tethered connection to a personal computer (or similar device) or printer. For example, images can be downloaded directly to hard copy using printers that support physical interfaces compatible with the media card. Alternatively, images may be uploaded to personal computers via card readers or wired connections between the cameras hosting the media cards and the computers.
More recently, digital cameras having wireless network connectivity have become available. These cameras permit connectivity with wireless networks (usually such networks as are compliant with the IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards) to transfer image data from the media card to a personal computer or printer. However, such cameras are generally more expensive than non-wireless network capable DSCs and, given the present installed base of non-wireless network capable DSCs, represent only a very small portion of the overall number of DSCs available today.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,278 to Liepe describes a flash memory card configured with flash memory (e.g., for storing digital images) and an RF transmitter that allows data stored within the flash memory to be transferred via direct wireless communication with an extended storage device having a compatible receiver. Liepe does not, however, discuss the issues of metadata associated with any of the data being so stored or transferred, nor does the reference describe any intelligence resident within the flash card that allows for manipulation of the storage media that is visible to its host. Further, communication between the memory card and the extended storage device is limited to direct communication without provision for making use of wireless LANs and the like.
Davis, et al. have reported on “the social life of cameraphone images” based on a study of multiple users' experiences with specially configured mobile phones having integrated digital cameras. See, e.g., Davis et al., “MMM2: Mobile media Metadata for Media Sharing”, CHI2005, Apr. 2-7, 2005, Portland, Oreg. According to the authors, a significant source of frustration for users of digital cameras (whether cameraphones or otherwise) is getting photos off of the host device and onto a platform where they can be shared with others. The MMM2 application allows users of these special cameraphones to add captions to pictures and video captured by the host's camera and to share those images and videos with other MMM2 users via existing networks used by mobile phones. Images stored in the MMM2 database can later be organized into albums, etc.
An important limitation of the MMM2 system is that it requires software upgrades to the host device. Specifically, before the cameraphones could be deployed to the users for participation in the above-described study, they had to be configured with client-side software configured to automatically gather contextual metadata before the images were uploaded to the MMM2 database. Additional client-side enhancements to the cameraphone's existing XHTML browser were required to permit user interaction with the images in order to facilitate annotation and sharing thereof.
While such enhancements to the firmware and/or application software of a host device may be possible or even practical in a controlled and relatively small environment (such as that used for the above-described study), they are not practical (or even, in some cases, possible) in larger arenas, such as the existing installed based of legacy DSCs that are not wireless-network capable. Hence, what is needed is a different solution to address the problem of getting the photos (or, more generally, other digital media) off the host device, especially where such host does not permit easy modification of its firmware or application software.